Thursday, April 24, 2014

B/X D&D Month XXIV: The Spheroid Menace!


Spheroids
Armor Class: 4
Hit Dice: 2**
Move: 180' (60')
Attacks: slam attack or telekinetically manipulated weapon, confusion
Damage: 1D8 slam or by weapon (up to 4 at once), confusion
No. Appearing: 1D10 (1D100)
Save As: F2
Morale: 9
Treasure Type: A
Intelligence: 13
Alignment: Lawful
XP Value: 30
Creature Type: extraplanar 
Terrain: rolling hills and open plains are the favored of the spheroids

The spheroids are extraplanar beings of a long-lost demiplane, forged in the dawn of time by a relatively unimaginative god of order who obsessed with perfection. He created an infinitude of ideals, platonic forms of great power and might, but his finest creation was also his flawed progeny and his downfall: the spheroids. The spheroids were sentient, spherical beings of leathery external texture about the size of pilates balls, with no outwardly evident sensory organs or means of internal intake or explusion. They moved about through sheer will, rolling where they wished, and relying on potent telekinesis to manipulate their environment as they saw fit. In the end the spheroids grew powerful and their faith in their god of order was shaken as they realized that he was himself an imperfect form trying to create perfection. They cast him down and migrated into the planar realms in search of perfection. Countless eons later the spheroids are a great threat to planes where they manifest, for they cause accidental harm in search of this perfect ideal even as they seek to exterminate all signs of imperfection....and most material planes are absolutely full of imperfection and broken symmetry. It deeply offends their sensibilities, and so the spheroids must act.

Physically Spheroids sense their environment with a form of psionic sight, and they do have an intake/outtake orifice, hidden slit-like behind two sides of their leathery, ball-like form. Each spheroid is imbued with great natural psionic potential and can communicate telepathically at will as well as engage in limited telekinesis, allowing them to lift up to 300 lbs. of weight up to 100 yards away from their position. A favorite tactic of spheroid warriors is to pick up and hurl the weapons of fallen foes like projectiles, as well as wielding up to 4 such weapons for attacks.

Spheroids also have a defensive mechanism: any creature which gets too close can be zapped by a confusion effect (as spell, RC pg. 49) that works like the spell, but has a radius of effect against all targets (only spheroids are immune) within 20 feet of the ball. Each creature must make a save vs. spells or succumb for 1D4 minutes, usually plenty of time for the ball to escape its predicament.

In any given body of Spheroids there will be at least one 4 hit die leader and for every 1D100 there is a 30% chance of at least one magic user of levels 1D4+1. In spheroid armies there will be dozens of battle mages, but no clerics; they have found no gods they consider worthy of worship yet....all such beings lack necessary perfection. Instead they have "Dedicates" which are similar to clerics and gain clerical magic through the worship of platonic ideals. 

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